I've recently been playing through Before the Green Moon, and I'm absolutely loving it - but when I went to read some of the reviews on here, I found that there was only a single one (soon to be 2 as soon as I finish it haha).

So, based on that experience, what's your favorite obscure game, to the point of only having a couple of HLTB reviews?

And just finished Mobius! Really liked the aesthetics and concept of this one, although the long waits between deaths and clunky platforming held it back a bit for me. The bosses too were a bit of a let down, with both being pretty much the same, and neither really taking advantage of being on 'Mobius Strips.' Still a nice little game to end Itchmas though!

I've done a couple runs of Red Snow now, (I'm pretty sure that there isn't an actual ending), and I definitely feel the same way about this one as I did about Folder Dungeon - a lot of really interesting ideas and fun core gameplay, but not really enough there for a full experience. The weapons do have a somewhat nice variety, but they all pretty much play the same way, and the single map and 2(?) enemies get a bit boring after a couple of waves. The voice acting in this one is terrific though, especially when you're hearing each line for the first time, and just the idea of snowboarding down a hill and slicing guys up carries this one hard, even if it's a bit glitchy in its current state.

Glad this one is getting a full Steam release, definitely has some nice potential.

Just finished 'The Moon Looks Beautiful Tonight,' and it's a weird one. There are some really neat concepts and moments here, and the visuals are sometimes absurdly good (the entire first hour or so in general I found pretty excellent) - but every time a character says something like "certifiably actually insane" or "I'm just saying facts," it took me out of it a little bit. Obviously a game thats executable is literally "spaceyuri.exe" is gonna have some moments like that, but trying to get into this story was a bit hard for me at times. The ending too is honestly really rough, but overall I thought this one was still worth playing - just a little disappointing given how high the initial highs were.

Definitely some Signalis vibes here, both in themes and aesthetics.

Just wrapped up with Day of the Hamster, and I liked this one! Nothing mind-blowing here, and I'm not super into the genre, but a plenty charming point and click. The in-game hint system definitely provides a nice alternative to just looking up the answers to the more obtuse solutions too.

Finished Yurivania, and while some of the writing was cute, and there's a good bit of charm throughout, I found the actual gameplay of this one pretty excruciating. Platforming feels slippery, traveling's a pain, using items is a struggle, and everything feels worse if you choose to actually listen to the soundtrack for the full playtime. I really wanted to love this one, but any time I wasn't reading the dialogue, it felt like a chore.

Just got through with Pretty Coo', and while I definitely see the appeal, just not really the game for me. The visuals and music are nice and all, and the premise is funny, but the gameplay basically just being 'Pikmin but everything is so much harder and less reliable' was a bit of a bummer. A good chunk of my time was spent trying to force the pigeons to do what i want, or just waiting for them to finish something.

Just finished Mr. Platformer, and I really enjoyed this one. Not exactly groundbreaking gameplay wise, but I found a lot of the visuals and (very vague) themes pretty interesting.

Nice - I nominated this one pretty much just based on the cover.

I thought it was a bit longer so I went ahead and started it tonight, but it turns out it's actually pretty short (no save system), so I went ahead and finished it - and it's kind of a mixed bag. I really liked the ps1-style ocean aesthetics, and the gameplay of finding treasure and upgrading equipment inherently appealed to me - but everything else isn't exactly great. The sharks aren't at all scary and just end up being run-ending annoyance, the progression is just a bit too wonky, and the limited scope of the game, being a game jam game, just doesn't fit the exploration-aspects. The story too is pretty rough, seemingly just being a combination of random ideas without much plot, and both endings are quite anti-climatic.

Not at all a terrible game, and the ps1 ocean vibes are honestly worth playing it for, but definitely a bit underwhelming overall.

I really liked Folder Dungeon! Any issue I had with it was either related to scope or (lack of) difficulty, but outside of that I quite enjoyed the general rhythm and aesthetics of it. Definitely a fun start to Itchmas.

I think the expanded steam version can be a really great game if they can just tweak the balance a bit and add some more variance.

I've been working through this one this month, but since I'm nowhere near finishing it in time, I'd thought I'd leave a few thoughts here:

I really like it! The story is the only part of it that I'm not entirely in love with (yet), but the presentation is so wonderfully kickass that it's hard to not love. I've really enjoyed the gameplay mechanics too, (I'm on a DS), I think they clicked with me a bit easier than they seem to do with other people. Something about the multi-tasking just feels so fun to get better at.

I'll probably come back here with fuller thoughts when I beat it at some point hopefully next month, but definitely glad I gave it a try.

Last Itchmas I got crazy busy right in the middle, but hopefully I should actually get to most of the games this time around!

Nominations:

Oceanwork - Ocean horror PS1-style game. Itch HLTB

Mr. Platformer - A platformer that hides some really interesting themes and gameplay ideas underneath. Hard to truly describe without spoilers. Itch HLTB

Scars Above

Yep, you're up

Lunacid?

I wouldn't get it without that hint. It's Beeswing.

Yep. You’re up

Glasgow

Nope.

Here's a hint that should make things quite a bit easier: Made by the guy who's also behind Sluggish Morss.

Drill Dozer

Not Drill Dozer (I’m gonna assume you were accidentally responding to a different screenshot haha).

Here’s a hint though: This game was named after the Scottish village where it takes place.

Hidden & Dangerous 2?

Hypnagogia?

April : Sonic Adventure
Fool's : Lisa: The First

NBA Street V3

Yep

GTA 4?

Nope. Not an open world game.